Gather around, children, and I'll tell you what I believe. Not everything, of course. But I'll tell you what I believe about believing. And what I believe about believing is this: What you believe is real to you. Nobody can make you believe or not believe something that isn't real (or not real) to you. They can argue with you, and try to change your mind, and maybe succeed, but they can't make you believe. Or not believe, as the case may be.

What anyone else believes is (or should be) irrelevant to what you believe. What anyone thinks about what you believe? Also irrelevant. You should probably be open to hearing what others think, and you should probably consider anything that makes sense to you. Logic requires deep thought that some people are not up for. Do the math? I think not. It might change what I believe, you know.

So God is real, if you believe. The gods of the peoples of the world are real for the true believers. In the end, the truth comes out anyway. Whatever you believe or don't believe doesn't really make one bit of difference to the universe, unless it causes you to do bad things. But for the most part belief doesn't cause people to do bad things. Dogma does, but not belief itself. Dogma leads to cruelty and prejudice, guilt and shame. Evil things are done in the name of dogma. Questioning the dogma should be a natural part of anyone's beliefs.

Santa is real, too, as long as you believe. So are zombies and leprechauns and the tooth fairy and Tim Tebow. Real magic is magically real. The world is full of wonders that are unimaginable, until someone imagines them.

There is, of course, one big exception, and I can't stress this enough. You cannot fly, so don't try. No matter how much you believe you can jump off a barn and soar into the clouds, it's not going to happen. Gravity actually trumps quite a few beliefs, come to think of it. I'd make the small suggestion, totally up to you, that you continue to believe in gravity.